St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1887-07-02

from my eyes to-day, as by the mlsts OF
great Niagara, for the dash and the
plunge of these great torrents of life drop
ping down into the fathOmless and
laundering abyss of suffering and woe.
I sometimes think that just as God blot
ted out the Church of Thyatira and
Corinth and Laodicea, because of their
sloth and stolidity, He will blot out
American and English Christianity, and
raise on the ruins stalwart, Wide-awake
missionary church that can take the full
meaning of that command: "Go into all
the world, and preach the Gospel to
every creature He that believeth and
is baptized shall be saved and he that
believeth not shall be damned"
remark, further, if you want to sue
coed in Gospel hunting you must have
courage. If the hunter stand with
trembling hand or shoulder that tiinches
with fear, instead of his taking the
catamount, the catamount takes him.
| What would become of the Greenlander
if, when out hunting for the bear, he
! should stand shivering with terror on an
iceberg? What would have become of
| Du Chaillu and Livingstone in the
| African thicket with faint heart and a
weak knee? When a panther comes
! W llHl1 L" CHbN PoSCS VI Iobl, dII'i IL Ids
It's eve on you, and it has squatted for
The fearful spring, STEADY thcrer'
Courage, O We spiritual hunters There
are great monsters of iniquity prowling
all around about the community. Shall
we not in the strength of God go forth
and combat them? We not only need
more heart, but more backbone. What
Is the Church of God that it should fear
tn look in tho
There is the Bengal tiger of drunkenness
that prowls around, and instead of at
lacking it, how many of US hide under
the church pew or the communion
table There is so much invested in
it we are afraid to assault it; mil
lions of dollars in barrels, in watts,
in spigots, in corkscrews, in gin palaces
with marble floors and Italian-top
tables, and chased ice-coolers, and in the
strychnine, and the logwood and the
tartaric acid, and the nux vomica that go
to make up our pure American drinks.
looked with wondering eyes on the
"Heidelberg tun." 1t is the great liquor
vat of Germany, which is said to hold
800 hogsheads of wine, and only three
times in 100 years has it been filled. But,
as l stood and looked at it, said to my
self: THAT is nothing-S00 hogsheads.
Why, our American vat holds 100000
barrels of strong drinks, and we keep 300,-
600 men with nothing to do but to see that
it is filed" Oh, to attack this great mon
ster contemporaries and the kindred mon
sters of fraud and uncleanness, requires
you to rally all your Christian courage.
Through the press, through the pulpit,
through the platform, you must assault
it. Would to God that all our American
Christians would band together, not for
Drained fanaticism, but for holy
Christian reform. I think it was in 1893
that there went out from Lucknow,
India, under the sovereign, the greatest
hunting-party that was ever projected.
There were 10000 armed men in that
hunting-party. There were camels and
horses and elephants. On some princes
rode, and royal ladies', under exquisite
housings, and 81 Jolies waited upon
the train, and the desolate places
of India were invaded by this ex-
cursion, and the rhinoceros, and deer,
and elephant, fell under the stroke of the |
sabre and bullet After while the party
brought back trophies with fifty thou
sand rupees, having left the wilderness
of India CHASTITY with the slain bodies of |
wild beasts Would to God that instead !
of here and there a straggler going out
to fight these great monsters of iniquity
in our country, the million membership
of our churches would band together and
hew in twain these great crimes that
make the land frightful with their roar,
and are fattening upon the bodies and
souls of immortal men. Who is ready
for such party as that? Who will be
mighty hunter for the LordS
I remark again If you want to be
successful in spiritual hunting, you need
not only to bring down the game, but
bring it in. | think one of the most
beautiful pictures of Thorwaldsen is his
Autumn" 1t represents a sportsman
coming home and standing under
He has staff over his
shoulder, and on the other end of that
staff are hung rabbit and brace of
birds. Every hunter brings home the
game. No one would think of bringing
down reindeer or whipping up stream
for trout, and letting them lie in the
woods. At eventide the camp is adorned
with the treasures of the forest-beak,
and fin, and antler.
If you go out to hunt for immortal
souls, not only bring them down under
the arrow of the Gospel, but bring them
into the Church of God, the grand home
and encampment we have pitched this
side the skies. Fetch them in do not let
them lie out in the open field. They
need our prayers, and sympathies, and
help. That is the meaning of the church
Of God-help. o ye hunters for the
Lord! not only bring down the game, but
bring it in.
If Mithridates liked hunting so we'll
hat for seven years he never went in
loors, what enthusiasm ought we to
have who are hunting for immortal souls!
If Domitian practiced archery until he
could stand boy down in the Roman
with a hand out, the
fingers outstretched, and then the King
could shoot an arrow between the fingers
without wounding them, to what drill
md what practice ought not we to SUBJ
ect ourselves in order to become
piritual archers and mighty hunters
)efore the Lordw But let me say, YOU
will never work any better than you
,ray. The old archers took the bow, .
'ut one end of it down beside the
DOT, elevated the other end, and it
vas the rule that the bow should be just
he size of the archer; if it were just his
ize, then he would go into the battle {
With confidence. Let me say that your